Tony Stark and the Infinity Gauntlet
by ElyPines
Summary: "If he gets all the Infinity Stones, he can wipe out half the Universe with a snap of his fingers." But is this man really going to be Thanos? Has an Avenger fallen? Because right now, it isn't Thanos who's holding the Infinity Gauntlet. It's Tony Stark. And that could change things a bit...
1. Chapter 1

Tony Stark and the Infinity Gauntlet

As our heroes were fighting on Earth for the sake of Vision and, in a little more slightly larger sense, for the sake of half the Universe, a heterogeneous band had assembled itself on the red, devastated Titan to fight the cruel Thanos, he who was at the origin of this sorry prospect. They had tried to take the Infinity Gauntlet off of Thanos' hand, but this plan, too, had failed, as Peter Quill, also known as Starlord, couldn't remain calm after learning that his girlfriend was killed by the man standing right in front of him. Anger prevailed in him and he started to punch Thanos without thinking twice - it goes without saying that this was perfectly useless, for Thanos was far more stronger than him, even without the Gauntlet that he had manage to keep, by the way. This plan couldn't be tried again and the Avengers, along with the Guardians, proceeded to attack their enemy with all their strength and power and whatever they were capable of, in a desperate attempt to save the Universe - and their lives. But Thanos was no easy man to take down and soon, they all lost to him. Dr. Strange was almost knocked unconscious, the Guardians were lying on the ground without even being able to get up and Stark's armour was repairing itself each time more slowly and with more difficulties. Finally, even the Spider ended up in the grasp of Evil. Peter started to choke: his movements were no more rational but submitted to his growing fear.

"No!" screamed Stark, when he saw his ward on the brink of death.

Stark rose up as he attempted to reach Thanos.

"No!" he repeated. Please, leave him alone!

Thanos looked at him then looked at Strange breathing heavily. Stark also turned his attention to the sorcerer. They both stared at each other. Stark silently begged him but Strange looked down. The two of them knew what was going on. Strange saw alternatives futures, millions of them and only in one of them did he see them winning. Only one. They couldn't risk their chance, they couldn't risk anything. Not for anything else. Not for anyone else.

"Thanos," said Stark, "why are you doing this?"

Thanos was still holding Peter within his big purple grasp, but he wasn't strangling him anymore. The Spider was trying to get free of him - in vain of course.

"You know why," replied the giant. The Universe is at the end of its resources. No planet can continue this way. I'm offering us all a solution.

"By killing everyone?" said Peter with sass - the only thing left when you're about to die on a foreign planet. "Excuse me sir, but I don't see how it's supposed to help __anyone__."

Thanos looked down on him, his smile getting bigger - and somewhat grimmer.

"You fool, I'm not trying to kill everyone, I'm trying to kill half of everyone."

His eyes met again with Stark's.

"You see, by erasing half of the Universe's population, I offer it a fresh new start, the possibility to finally make the good choices. On every planet I have saved so far, not one child have lacked proper, abundant food since then."

"But at what cost?" asked Strange who was trying to get on his feet, his hand on his stomach as he was wounded. "At what amount of pain and suffering?"

For a second, it was as if Thanos looked sad. But it was only a second and, the moment afterwards, his face returned to its natural state - a cold, heartless one.

"That's why I need all the Infinity Stones. With them, I will be able to accomplish my mission."

"Oh, is it a mission? I thought it was just cruelty!"

This time, the one who had spoken was Quill. His team was standing by his side and they had all their weapons out. In a blink of an eye, they rushed to Thanos and attacked him all at once. It seemed that it had worked, for Thanos grunted and knelt down, but he was still holding firmly Peter and Quill didn't cease fire.

"Stop it!" screamed Stark for the second time.

A fire nearly blew Peter's head and Stark felt his heart betting faster than ever.

"Stop it, moron, you're going to kill the kid too!"

Finally, Thanos got rid of the Guardians with a single - and more powerful than anyone else's due to the Infinity Stones - punch. He grabbed Peter and started to strangle him with both of his hands above his head so that everyone could see it.

"It's over!" he shouted. "Give me the Time Stone!"

Stark turned to Strange.

"Please..."

But the sorcerer gave him a hard look.

"I told you in the ship..."

"Strange, please."

Thanos could tell what was going on inside Stark's head. He turned to him, once again.

"Listen to me. I want to save the Universe as much as you do."

Suddenly, Stark got impatient.

"Yeah? Then why don't you use you power for good? Why don't you, I don't know, create the resources that we're lacking so much!"

Thanos laughed.

"Create? I thought that you, of anyone, would know how impossible is it to create something out of nothing. I can't create resources when there're no more. Think about it. All the destructions, the wars because of the lack of resources. But if you hand over me the Time Stone, we can build a new world. __You__ can build a new world for your planet. Now, with a lower population, you can finally distribute fairly its resources and start again their exploitation, but wisely this time."

"But the cost," said Strange again, "the cost is too heavy."

Thanos looked at him before answering.

"It's a fair cost after all these millennia of destruction. And with all the Infinity Stones, there will be no pain, no agony. People will just __cease__ to exist."

"Thanos, said Iron Man - he had remained silent for all this time but now he had made up his mind, I want you to promise me something in exchange of the Stone."

"What?"

"Leave the kid alone."

When he heard this, Peter, although now really weakened, tried anyway to break out of the deadly embrace while shouting.

"Sir! Don't do it, sir, please! Please, I'm not worth it!"

Stark turned to Dr. Strange.

"Give him the Stone, he said."

Strange shook his head.

"No, I said..."

"The Stone!"

Stark shouted with anger. Strange stared at him for a few seconds. Then he closed his eyes briefly and his fingers looked as if they were reaching for something out a space - and time. He got the Stone back from where he had hide it before the fight. Thanos released Spider-Man et seized the Time Stone with an obvious satisfaction. Stark ran to Peter.

"Sir, why would you do that?" Peter asked him.

He did not answer. He helped him getting back on his feet then he turned to Thanos.

"Are we clear Thanos? No more deaths until it's all done."

"We are clear, said Thanos leisurely."

The almost-master of the Infinity Stones opened up a portal, straight to Earth.

The Avengers, along with their allies saw a portal opening in front of their eyes. Vision was already badly wounded, Dr. Banner had his suit amputated of one arm and despite Thor's as bright as sudden showing up in the middle of the fight, the whole team were getting exhausted by the incessant stream of monsters that Thanos' servants were releasing at every moment. Few of them had joined Vision in the forest, in order to protect him and it was in the forest that the portal opened. Although they were unsure of what would come out of it, they were ready to attack. However, it was Tony Stark who stepped outside the portal. Peter Parker was closely following him. They all sighed with relief. But then, Thanos came out of the portal. Instantly, Captain America charged him, but Stark had him stop immediately.

"No! Everybody, don't do a single thing!"

They all stood, puzzled. Then Steve Rogers asked the question they had all in mind.

"What are you doing? We have to stop Thanos now!"

Suddenly, it was as if he realized it.

"Are you... Are you on his side? Did you betray us?!"

Stark made a gesture to calm him down.

"No Steve, it's not what you think."

Then he said the only thing nobody expected him to say and as a matter of fact, nobody wanted him to say:

"Thanos is right."

While he was still shocked, Captain America managed to say:

"So it's right, you're on his side."

"No," said Stark again, "I'm not on his side. I'm on the Earth's side."

Thanos looked around before saying:

"This is a waste of time. Where's the Spirit Stone?"

Stark turned to him.

"It's on Vision's head."

Again, Captain America stood before them, his shield up and all his friends behind him.

"Tony, if he takes the Stone from Vision, Vision is going to die, you know that!"

"Fine," said Thanos, "I'll remove it without killing him."

Vision wasn't far away from their position. Wanda did try to destroy the Stone before Thanos could reach them, but with already five Infinity Stones in his possession, she couldn't make it on __time__. So, Thanos got Vision's Stone but in the process, he respected his promise and kept Vision alive. Finally, he was ready. But then Stark spoke up:

"No," he said.

Thanos frowned. Was Iron Man going to attack him, after all?

"Let me do it," said Stark.

Thanos let a smile went out.

"You won't be able to."

"Let me do it," said Stark again.

"Why?" asked Thanos.

Everyone were surrounding them, unsure of what to do at this moment.

"Thanos, you're nowhere near being good. I won't stand you wiping out half the Universe and enjoying it. I'm the one who's going to do it."

Thanos shrugged. He opened a portal and they went thought it, both of them. Peter, uncomfortable, looked at the others. But no one would move. So he followed his protector at the last second and the portal closed right behind him.

Stark was back at the last floor of the Stark Tower which, in fact, no longer belonged to him nor had his name on it, that place where, a lifetime ago, they defeated Loki, while he was trying to get a hand on the Tesseract and, more precisely, on an Infinity Stone. That place where the Avengers had risen and already once fallen, was to be where it all should end. Now, here they were and there wasn't only one stone here, but all of them. All the Infinity Stones, all on the Infinity Gauntlet, right in the hand of the former owner of the Stark Tower. Right in the hand of Tony.

"Sir, please, don't do it," said Peter.

Near the large window opening to the balcony, the three of them were standing, Iron man in front of the two others. Peter wasn't trying to do anything but whatever he would have been thinking of doing, Thanos stood near him, ready to crush his neck. But even if it weren't for these words, Stark was nonetheless reluctant, so Thanos raised his voice:

"Do it, Stark. Just do it. All will be over soon. They will feel neither pain nor agony."

"I know," said Stark.

"Mercy," Thanos uttered.

But Stark shook his head.

"It's not mercy. It's bad."

"Then don't do it!" screamed Peter who thought he'd almost convinced his protector.

As he'd just done with Thanos, Stark marked his disapprobation.

"No, no, it has to be done."

He was thinking about all those lives he was going to shatter. But what was life, anyway? The simplest combination of flesh and bones. Nothing that really mattered. But the souls, that what he will save. They will be reborn. The son will one day be his uncle's father and the daughter will give birth to her grandmother. The best friend will become the child and the arch enemy, the nephew. No, they won't __be__ for a long time, but one day, they surely will return. Because they would be souls in waiting, expecting to fit again in a bunch of flesh and bones. Not only will he erase half the beings in the whole Universe to free the other half, but also he will save their souls - that was what the Soul and the Time Stone would be for. No pain nor agony and neither mercy. But salvation.

Stark proceeded to fit his hand inside the Gauntlet. It was too big for him, obviously, but the nanotech that made his armour took care of keeping the Gauntlet fixed to his wrist. He looked down to it. So big, powerful, sad. He was sure of it, now, that he would die in the process. Thanos had him convinced by saying that he, owner of Stark Industries, one of the wealthiest man on Earth, would be able to lead the world to a new era, to limit the badness of the consequences and to increase the goodness of these same consequences. Make a better world. It wasn't that Stark didn't believe it, in the moment, but now, ready to make the ultimate sacrifice, he felt that he would count among the dead of this fateful day. It was only fair, after all. Thanos and him, killers of so many people, would be in that number of people. They simply could not survive when so many others would not. Moreover, by their own death, their own sacrifice, they would save two people. Nothing regarding the vastness of the Universe, but still. It was a little victory. Their victory. The only one they could have won.

Stark took a deep breath and his eyes met Peter's. He smiled at him.

"Don't worry kid. Everything will be alright."

And so, raising his hand in front of his face, Tony Stark, alias Iron Man, did it; he wiped out half the Universe with a snap of his fingers.

Everything went suddenly blank - or black because he couldn't see a thing as he had been momentarily blinded. But then, he opened an eye and found himself lying on a wet surface. He rose to his feet. Te floor was solid but with a few centimetres of water as if it was drowned. There was nothing else. As far as his eyes could see, the horizon was blank - or pinky blank as there was still a floor and a sky. He took a few steps, unsure of what had happened. He turned around to see more and blinked as he finally noticed something. It was an arch, the kind of sober arch you could have seen in front of Death's entry. Below that arch stood a person that he immediately recognised. It was Pepper. His first intention was to run towards her, but he stopped himself and approached the figure cautiously.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," said Pepper.

She was just like how she was when he left her to meet with Dr. Strange. Kind face, soft hair tied in a ponytail. She was smiling. But sadly smiling. In a soft voice, she asked :

"Will it be worth it?"

And Tony answered:

"It will, I promise you."

Her smile went a little bigger, but her eyes, nothing like less sad. Tony raised his hand in an attempt to reach her, but then again, everything blurred. When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in the tower, near Thanos and Peter. He looked at the Gauntlet; it was obvious that it was of no more use.

"Did you do it?" asked Thanos.

Stark did not answer to him but rather moved to the window. He opened it and went to the balcony, where Thanos joined him and where they could see the entire city. Little by little, one by one, half the universe was disappearing, being turned to dust.

The Avengers were still in the forest, outside Wakanda. Wanda was taking care of Vision and the others were just sitting, waiting, resting.

"How will we know that he did it?" said Captain America.

At that moment, he heard Bucky who was standing a few feet away, still holding his weapon, in case another attack would strike, calling for him.

"Steve?"

Steve Rogers could barely turn in his direction as he watched his friend slowly, almost softly, hitting the ground while disappearing. As he couldn't figure out what was happening, Steve did not move immediately. He rose up and when he reached Bucky, the only thing left was his weapon. The ground was covered with ashes.

A short moment afterwards, Vision had to see Wanda wither away, too, leaving nothing but the last echo of her voice and a bit of a soiled ground. All around the Universe, people saw their neighbours just turning to ashes. A man disappeared while saying "this is no place to die," another just said "oh man," but with no regret as the love of his life had just been taken away from him. Almost all of the Guardians of the Galaxy were erased, considering that a group so heterogeneous had only a ridiculously low percentage of chance of surviving, because not only was half the Universe being erased from existence, but half of any groups of beings, the smallest part of a race, of an ethnic group. Stephen Strange vanished away too and so no one, eventually, remained on the dead planet of Titan.

Back on Earth, Stark and Thanos watched helicopters and cars crash as their drivers were no more.

"You truly did it," said Thanos.

Stark looked at him: the purple skinned giant was slowly being turned to ashes. His face was nor happy or sad. If anything, it was in peace. Soon, he was gone and even the wind took his remains away. Finally, Stark let the Gauntlet fall on the ground. He was ready to leave, too. He closed his eyes, offered his open chest to the city below him, in his famous last gesture.

But then, he heard a feeble voice, behind his back.

"Mr. Stark? I don't... I don't feel so good..."

Tony immediately turned around to meet Peter's horrified eyes. The boy couldn't stand on his feet any more. Tony ran to him, just in time to catch him and prevent him from hitting the ground.

"I don't want to go, Mr. Stark, I don't want to go," cried Peter.

His spider senses had alerted him of what was happening and now, they were trying to heal him as a result of which, it did nothing but making his agony slower.

"I don't want to go, please, I don't want to go," the poor boy kept repeating.

Tony was holding him tight in his arms, so shocked that he couldn't say anything but one word:

"No, no, no..."

And finally, with a last, sad and pitiful word - "sorry" - Peter Parker, along with half of the Universe, departed from this life. And Tony Stark was for his part, left with nothing in his arms. He only had one blackened hand, blackened from being soiled by ashes. That was not how it was supposed to happen, but here it was, it had happened and Tony Stark, the murderer of half the Universe was alive, when so many good people were not - not anymore. The saddest being alive in the whole Universe, grieving for it and so much more besides it. Incapable of moving, even of crying, Stark just curled up as he gently raised his hand to his lips and let out silent tears.

In the end, there had been, indeed, no mercy. No mercy at all.


	2. The Big Suit and the Little Girl

The Big Suit and the Little Girl

Now the battle was over and the green plains were covered with mud and blood. It was hard to tell if the battle was actually over or just on a break and harder to tell if they'd won. The enemy's army - Thanos's army could no longer be seen but there was not much left of __their__ army, too. They had disappeared. All of sudden, they had all ceased to exist. Like a magic trick, in a blink of an eye. Well, it wasn't everyone of course, but still it was so many of them it truly felt like it. On the moment Okoye accepted the hand of her king T'Challa to help her get back on her feet, he vanished, leaving nothing but ashes in that hand of her. Thus on the green plains of Wakanda, there was mud, blood... and ashes. It was quite a shock. The survivors looked out for their injured brothers or sisters, found one each other and headed back to the city, hoping they would have answers there. Captain America also returned from the forest. He told everyone what he had witnessed there: Thanos arriving on Earth through a portal and collecting the last Infinity Stone.

The White Wolf was gone and so was the Scarlet Witch along with other Avengers. They figured out that about half of them had disappeared that way. The World itself had suffered the same fate: half of its population was now gone.

"So he did it" said Captain America.

They were back in the palace, looking at the big screens on the wall that displayed TV channels and informations from all around the Earth. Okoye was standing next to Steve Rogers while Shuri was on the floor, too shocked to cry but not enough to prevent her from drowning in her sorrow.

"Captain" said Okoye, "What happened? What shall we do now?"

Cap sighed and did not answer.

The green plains outside Wakanda was covered with bodies and ashes. Every breathing person had been removed from there and taken back to the city, though the fallen ones were still outside, lying in blood-colored puddles. As for their hideous enemies, their corpses were to be burned far away and later for they, as mindless beasts, did not deserve to be treated like noble warriors. Yet, the plains weren't completely deserted for there was one little girl outside. She had a beautiful black skin and magnificent curly long hair. While she usually went bare foot, she wore a fair green dress that matched the colour of her eyes. She was standing in the battlefield holding a pointy stick (meant to be a sword) she had just made herself. She started to walk into the vivid, green forest, amongst the innocent birds songs. Soon, she came to the place where it all ended, where the last fight took place, the last stand against the Mad Titan. She saw ashes amongst bushes. She kept walking and that's when she found it. The suit. It was lying, motionless, on the ground, like everything else around there. That suit was huge, really huge, coloured with bright colours, red and yellow. It missed an arm, however. She climbed it and looked inside. It was empty. Very cautiously, she sneaked in. Her hand gently went over the surface and came back stained with ashes. Suddenly, a noise came out of her bracelet. She looked down and saw that her mom was calling her. The maternal figure appeared in the centre of her hand, drawn by the familiar fair-coloured sand the people of Wakanda used on so many occasions.

"Mom?" she asked.

"Shuya! Are you alright?" Her mom was clearly relieved to see her daughter safe and sound. Shuya smiled back at her and answered her with the same brilliant accent they shared.

"Yes mom, don't worry, I'm fine!"

"Good" said her mother "because I need you to come home please."

"What happened?" the little girl asked, "is there a problem?"

"Please" said again the sand figure "come home."

The communication ended. Shuya looked around her. The suit was so big and she was so small - she was only eight after all - she could have fitted her whole body in the arm alone. She was really curious about that suit; however she couldn't stay in there any longer for her mom had called her back. So she made her way out of the suit, then the forest then started to run towards the city. There, she found the streets deserted because everyone had come to gather at the palace's gates. Few people were tightly hugging each other, but the majority was mourning.

"Shuya! Shuya!"

The girl spotted her mother in the crowd and they both ran to each other. Her strong mother hold her in her arms while crying silently. Shuya looked around.

"Mom..." she asked, "where is Father? And... where's my brother?"

Her mother looked into her eyes.

"You'll have to be brave" she said.

Shuya felt tears in her eyes and something heavy in her stomach. Her mother took her hand.

"Come here, now, let's go home."

They were leaving the crowd when Shuya spotted Captain America. He was near a plane and thus it was clear he was about to leave, too. She broke from her mother's grasp and ran to him. Okoye tried to stop her but Steve Rogers let her come to him.

"Where are you going to?" she asked him.

His eyes were as bright as the sky during summer but as sorrowful as the ocean on a storm's night.

"I'm going to prevent the world from falling into chaos" he answered.

He took a step inside the Quinjet but looked back one last time.

"And after that, I'm going to avenge it" he added.

That being said, he disappeared into the plane which took off without waiting any longer. Shuya watched him as it left Wakanda and felt a strong desire in her heart, the one, she knew, that was meant to help her overcome her grief.

The green plains of Wakanda had been cleaned. The bodies of their enemies had been driven away and burnt to ashes. They would help fertilize the soil. The ones of their own soldiers had been deeply honoured however. All that was left to do was to dismantle Thanos's space ships. As for Shuya, she had hidden the big bright suit under branches and bushes. Soon, it became her secret place. She would come here, creep under the vegetables and get in the suit. And cry. The whole world was mourning and so she was, too, for she had not only lost her father but also her brother who happened to be her closest friend (she didn't have many). Now, all she felt was alone. Truly, the suit and her were lonely - if it wasn't for the other. Months went by. A entire year. The world was struggling in order to move on without half its population and almost none of its heroes. Thought Wakanda had opened its gates to it, there wasn't that much tourism. Every one, every country was being drawn, pushed to withdraw from the rest of the globe. So Shuya stayed in her suit. She filled it with balls of fabrics so she could somehow fit in it. She mimed the battle she would have led into that suit. She talked to it as if it was her personal AI - she heard the great Tony Stark, who had too disappeared during the battle again Thanos and hadn't been seen since then, used to talk to his suits; she was proud to say she copied that habit.

One day, eventually, she came with a battery and she connected the suit to it. To her greatest joy - and utter amazement, it turned on the suit. The girl quickly get herself in it. Her heart was beating faster than ever.

"Hello?" she tried, unsure of the result that would follow.

"Good morning" said an electronic voice.

Shuya smiled brightly.

"My name is Shuya, who are you?" she asked - and again the suit replied.

"My name is Veronica, I'm the property of Mr. Stark."

Shuya kept smiling. Yeah, actually, she had figured the last part (but didn't say a word, though). She felt enthusiastic, more than she had ever felt. Maybe, she thought, she wasn't alone anymore. In a soft, shy voice, she then asked:

"Nice to meet you, Veronica, will you be my friend?"

"It will be my pleasure miss Shuya" replied the suit.

That was it. No more loneliness for either of them. Shuya wanted to try moving the suit right away but despite the armour being able to adjust to its possessor, the girl was definitively too small for it. Veronica tried to cheer her up, saying it was only a matter of one year or two before she would have grew up enough to fit in, but the proud Wakandian girl didn't want to hear that. She decided to think about another solution. First of all, she entirely removed the left arm, the one which had been broken during the battle and was thus useless. With these pieces, she was able to make a few repairs. Then, with the help of Veronica, she tried to figure out a way that would allow her to move the armour despite the fact that she couldn't reach anything because of her small height.

The solution was a joystick.

Shuya put the battery inside the suit, covered it up with a blanket and turned it into her chair. She managed to build a gamepad that was linked to the legs: the right joystick was for the walk or the run and the left one for the direction. They had to try several times but eventually, it worked. Shuya would sit cross-legged on the battery when they were walking and would stand up when they were running. Because the helmet was also too heavy and too big for her, she made up some short of glasses that she connected to the helmet so that what should have been displayed inside the helmet was now displayed on her glasses. Veronica also made sure the helmet was attached and even locked to the rest of the armour so it could never fall off - and get lost. As a consequence, in order to get into the suit, Shuya had to go through the left arm. She actually thought it was hilarious.

However, she didn't find a solution to move the remaining arm and, more importantly, the fingers, so whenever she wanted to do or grab something, she had to ask Veronica to do it for her. It was fine as long as it was only a matter of picking up a flower or removing a tree that had fallen across a road. But that would never work in a real fight, against a real villain. Because Shuya only thought about one thing: her desire to be a superhero. To help the World. But although she would have fight anyone who would have tried to take the suit from her, at the same time, she knew she wasn't making good use of it - and it saddened her. Every day - or rather night (for she tried to avoid having the suit spotted by anyone), when she left Veronica, she hid the suit and when she came back to use it, she always found some isolated place to do so. But the both of them talked so much with each other it often happened that Shuya would do nothing in the suit but speaking with her friend.

They talked about the world that had yet to recover from the snap, they talked about the job of being a superhero - and they talked about the fallen ones. After a long time, Veronica finally accepted to show the battle to Shuya. She had recorded it all from the moment the Hulk - or rather, Dr. Bruce Banner - had entered the suit. Shuya sat silently, watching Dr. Banner fighting like Hulk without actually being the Hulk. She got scared when the arm was ripped off. She felt sorry for the Big Guy who wouldn't want to show up but was kind of proud when Banner vanquished his enemy on his own. Finally, she closed her eyes when the vitals went missing. After the disappearance of Banner, Veronica had kept recording for a little more until, eventually, she had run out of power and shut herself down. As time passed, Shuya watched the recording once more. And twice more. And plenty more during the months and years that followed. Banner became her personal superhero. Everything he said, she said it along with him. Everything he did, she mimed it along with him. She would do the battle again for a lot of times, over and over. It was like her training session: at night, when nobody could see her or when she had found a place where anyone was around, she would ask Veronica to do the same movements Banner did on that day and she would do them too, trying to be in the right tempo. She kept on that training for weeks, feeling more and more confident each time.

Until Okoye found out.

It was a bright day, the sky was clear of any cloud and the forest around her was resonated with thousand of sounds, from the modest bush to the howling carnivore. Her hair was tied in an efficient but not less sophisticated way in order to prevent it from disturbing her while she was trying to follow the fast punches Veronica was throwing at thick air. While doing so, they turned around and suddenly faced Okoye. The fierce warrior had her spear ready. Actually, her intention was obvious and Shuya almost had no time to shout:

"Okoye wait, it's me!"

Okoye froze immediately, startled. Then she asked:

"Shuya? You are in there?"

"Yes!" replied Shuya "I am! Please don't attack me!"

Shuya jumped out of the suit, through the missing arm and in her hurry, she forgot to take off her glasses: they were brutally ripped off her face and she stumbled, taken aback by the brightness of the day. She managed to stay on her feet, however, and looked at Okoye, a bit shameful. As for Okoye herself, she kept looking at the suit then at Shuya, then at the suit, then at Shuya again. Finally she asked:

"What were you doing in that armour?"

"Training" replied Shuya while looking down because she couldn't get herself to face Okoye's eyes. The female warrior considered her for a moment before saying:

"I'm bringing you home."

Shuya immediately grabbed her hand.

"Please, no! I don't want to leave Veronica alone!"

After thinking about it, Okoye replied to her, almost reluctantly:

"Fine. You can bring the suit with you."

"Thank you Okoye !" said Shuya with the biggest smile "I love you so much!"

Everyone stopped to watch them go by. The people inside their houses went to their windows, the merchants looked away from their dearest goods, the children grabbed their ball they were playing with just the moment before. People muttered behind their backs but she couldn't hear what they were saying. For those who had fought the battle against Thanos, it was quite a surprise to see that big suit making its apparition again. And for the rest of the population, it was merely a feeling of worry and suspicion for they couldn't decide whether the presence of that thing was good or bad news. As for Shuya herself, she couldn't be seen. She was sitting inside the suit, helmet closed and having Veronica following closely Okoye's steps. Finally, the three of them arrived at the palace's entrance where the Queen was awaiting. Okoye saluted her by crossing her arms on her chest.

"My Queen" she said, "I have found Shuya and... Shuya has found something."

She then turned to the red and yellow armour and nodded. Shuya closed her eyes for a brief moment as she was trying to get mentally prepared for what will surely follow. She then removed her glasses off her head and came out of the suit through the missing arm. Shuri looked at her.

"Shuya" the Queen of Wakanda asked, "what were you doing?"

Shuya still couldn't look at the grow-ups in the eyes - especially the Queen. The enthusiastic princess was long gone; in a world on the verge of self-destruction, excitement towards memes wasn't welcomed anymore. The Queen hadn't become harsher, however: only sadder. It hurt Shuya that she could have, somehow, disappointed her. That was why she answered with the weakest voice:

"I only meant to help..."

But suddenly she looked up with determination.

"Please, don't take Veronica away from me! I trained so much, I promise! I want to fight in that suit! I can do it, I know it !"

Okoye immediately raised her spear. It wasn't meant to be aggressive, but the message was clear.

"Shuya, you have no idea whatsoever this is and you should..."

"Okoye."

The woman stopped and turned to her Queen, unsure.

"My Queen" she said nonetheless, "this is too dangerous..."

"She already did a wonderful job."

"But she can't even fit in the suit, she's too small!"

"She will grow."

Eventually, Okoye had to gave up and stepped back. Shuri moved towards Shuya and put her hand on her shoulder. She smiled briefly.

"One day Veronica could come in handy, indeed. And we'll need a good pilot. Shuya, do you swear that you'll always protect Wakanda and everyone in need?"

The little girl who had one day befriended an robotic armour, brightly smiled and saluted her Queen, the Wakandian way.

"I swear it!"

"In that case" replied Shuri, "you should resume you training now. In the meantime" - and for one moment, it was as if the old, annoying sister of King T'Challa, the best inventor of her time and far beyond, had returned - "let's make a new, decent arm for that suit."

New York City. Also known as the "Big Apple". Shuya couldn't believe she was actually staring at it - well, it was through her glasses but who cares? The city laid hundreds of feet beneath her. The journey itself had not taken long, but the young woman was relieved at the sight of the bay and the skyscrapers for that had been her longest flight so far. She didn't know where to look first so she gently began her descent. She landed on a big avenue. Since the snap had reduced Earth population to half of what it used to be - and despite the general exodus to the cities - that avenue wasn't overcrowded. In fact, she could almost have walked directly on the road without her being a bother to anyone or vehicle. People looked at her when she arrived. Some frowned, but, all in all, nobody cared. Maybe the Hulk suit hadn't been recognised. Or maybe nobody gave a shit about their superheroes anymore. Shuya started to walk cautiously in the streets with a map of the city displayed on a border of her screen. There was some places she could already have gone to but she wasn't even sure who she wanted to meet. New York felt like the right city to go to in order to begin her hero journey but the governments were still a bit disorganized (not to mention the still effective and as much annoying Accords). So she walked while observing with curiosity her surroundings when someone suddenly shouted:

"Help!"

She looked up immediately. Veronica found the source of the shout: it was a man under a shuddering scaffold. The truth was, it was about to collapse. With no hesitation at all, Shuya flew to it and grabbed the pillar the moment it broke up. The whole thing suddenly rested on her shoulders - literally.

"Vero!" she shouted "run simulations! What can I do?"

She looked up at the scaffolding: the people who were working on it until now had started to run away, mostly through the windows into the building. But some others were trapped in their level and had to go down or up in order to escape.

"Can I hold it long enough?" Shuya asked her suit.

"Yes, you can" answered Veronica "however the others pillars won't."

"Shit" Shuya said.

Veronica warned her than she had only two minute thirty-three seconds before the scaffolding would collapse entirely. People were hurrying themselves out of it but some were too slow. What could she do? At least the people were evacuating the streets by themselves. Shuya counted three workers who would never make it on time. One minute left.

"Okay Vero! Here's the plan!"

The thrusters under her feet started roaring. While facing the building, she took a step backwards and freed her right hand.

"Fifteen seconds!" warned Veronica - the whole movement had reduced the time just the way they had calculated it. The Wakandian girl threw her arm in the direction of the sky: her hand changed into an harpoon she managed to sent three levels up.

"Sir, please! Grab it!" she shouted to the worker who was at this level.

The second she knew he had indeed grabbed it, she pulled him back and ejected herself from under the scaffolding. Her left hand turned itself into a harpoon too and as she was in the air, she grabbed the second guy. Meanwhile, she put down the first one and in the same movement, reached for the third and last one. That movement was going full circle and with that speed and the wire's length, the man were surely to end up into the other building, across the road.

"Now!"

Her thrusters lighted up and projected her into the sky so that the full circle movement happened above the rooftops of the buildings. The scaffolding ended falling apart but everyone who had been on it had been saved. Shuya stayed a few seconds in the air, as shocked as the men who were attached to her harpoons. She only then realised how fast her heart was beating.

"Congratulations" said Veronica "you've accomplished your first exploit."

"Yeah." said Shuya "Whatever."

She began going down, very slowly. She put down the two men and the harpoons reintegrated the suit to make both of its hands to reappear. Then she stopped her thrusters and finally landed. When she looked up, she found herself surrounded by a crowd and that crowd was congratulating her. Everyone wanted to touch her suit, say to her how amazing she had been. They also wanted to know her name and if she could show them her face (they could've only heard her feminine strong-accentuated voice). So far Shuya had never experienced such attention from people and she was blushing under her helmet. Suddenly, the crowd split up to let a man come through, a man she recognized right away.

"Captain America!"

Immediately, her helmet fell down and seemed absorbed by the rest of the armour, revealing the face of a fourteen-years-old girl, with rituals white paintings all over her dark skin and amazingly wild brown hair that somewhat still managed to stay out of her sombre, sparkling eyes.

"Hey, I know you" said Steve Rogers when he saw her "you were that little girl, hum-?"

"Shuya" she said "my name is Shuya."

"Nice to meet you again Shuya." Cap replied. "And nice to see __you__ again, Veronica."

"Pleasure is mine, sir" said the red and yellow big suit.

Captain America looked at Shuya with proud eyes. Shuya realised he may had been actually impressed by her recent action. __Here you go gir__ l, she though for herself, __you just proved yourself.__ As an echo of that thought, Steve Rogers asked:

"May I know why you decided to come here?"

Shuya, the proud Wakandian girl in her Hulk suit, both of them never to be left alone again, looked at Captain America and answered him with determination:

"To help you rebuild the world and avenge it."

And Captain America nodded.


	3. A Christmas Reunion

A Christmas' Reunion

The shield bounced back on the HYDRA-bot - a giant green robot that looked pretty much like an octopus - but not before giving it a severe dent. The robot turned its huge glowing head and started to walk - or slide or whatever it was that it used to move - away.

"Shuya! Don't let him escape!" yelled Steve.

"Don't worry, Cap, I'm on it!" the Wakandan girl chimed in his com with her beautiful singing accent. "Okay, Vero, like we practiced!"

The teenage girl had the Hulkbuster climb to the top of the nearest building and at Cap's signal, she threw herself and the suit through the air in the direction of the HYDRA-bot's head. As soon as her foot left the roof, the suit transformed and became a ball of metal, completely smooth - and more unbreakable than ever. The ball pierced the armor of the robot entering it in one side and getting out on the other.

Shuya immediately reversed back the suit to its humanoid form and landed on both of her feet.

"Cap! Catch!"

The right hand disappeared to let her favorite tool - a harpoon - get out. She threw it at Steve who caught it and steadied his stand. Shuya activated her thrusters in her robotic boots and started flying around the robot. After three turns around its eight legs, she came back near Steve, took back the end of her harpoon and pulled while Steve threw his shield again. The robot stumbled and the shield achieved to send it to the floor, Steve being careful about it falling on the emptied avenue and not into the buildings.

"Yeah, we did it!" shouted Shuya as soon as the HYDRA-bot was down.

She lifted her helmet, revealing her abundant curly mane and her giant goggles that allowed her to see what was happening outside the suit no matter what form it currently had taken.

Steve Rogers, the former Captain America - though she couldn't get used to that idea, especially since Queen Shuri had a new vibranium round shield forged for him - was a bit less exited than she was.

"Let's hope it was the last one in that state."

They had been chasing these robots for months now. With half the population gone, the countries all around the world had rapidly fallen into chaos and you can bet that HYDRA had seized the damn opportunity to kick off a rule of terror.

"Steve... Look."

The blonde looked up at Shuya who had her hand cupped. He briefly wondered why before she caught another white star. A third one landed on his nose. It was snowing.

"Christmas is for tonight, after all" the girl mused.

"You want to go back home?" he asked her.

Shuya took off her goggles and stared wearily at him.

"We both know that it's not what I want. Cap, it's been five years. We can't keep doing this, it's ridiculous."

"I know but-"

"Please, Cap, you have to speak with Tony."

Steve took a deep breath.

"Please" repeated Shuya.

He looked one more time to her then to the seventeenth HYDRA-bot they had taken down - or was it the eighteenth? - and sighed.

"You're right. It is Christmas after all."

"Sir, Captain Rogers and Ms Shuya are at the doors. Should I let them him?"

The man shivered.

"Steve...?"

His father, Howard Stark, found the Tesseract while looking for Captain America and he, the son, found Captain America himself. Not in person of course. Not even via one of his numerous companies. But as soon as he heard the news - not one hour after the Captain was found trapped in the ice - he gave nearly unlimited credits to SHIELD and watched over Steve's recovery from close.

He only met him in person during the Chitauri's invasion - landing next to the living legend in Berlin where they had Loki pinned down, trying to stay casual, keeping his voice even when he saluted him, "Captain", as if it was not his father's hero and his own hero - and their paths diverged right after that. But that didn't mean he didn't keep looking after him. Especially after SHIELD fell.

When the battle of the helicarriers happened, he wasn't there - he had his own problems to deal with. But as soon as he learned what Steve had gone through, he flew to DC to the hospital where he was recovering. Tony was here when Steve woke up. When he told him about the Winter Soldier - about how he had discovered that his best friend had been spending the last seven decades as a brainwashed assassin. He was here to listen to Steve's story and why he had felt so distant during the battle of New York - because Steve wasn't just out of time, he was also out of friends.

"Okay, no more independence Cap" had said Tony with a mild smile, "from now on, we're roommates." He stopped for one second before waving his hand around. "Also, there's probably gonna be Barton and Romanoff too. Sorry for that but they just appeared in the Stark Tower last night."

"By the Stark Tower, you mean-"

"Yeah, that big ugly building" smiled Tony.

Steve laughed. It made Tony felt warm inside. The guy was really full of surprises - not the last one to roast Tony, too, but in the billionaire genius philanthropist's point of view, it was actually a plus.

They formed a good team, all the Avengers together. Yet Tony couldn't help but think Steve and he formed a great team. Steve had his flaws (believe it or not) amongst which the fact that he was never wrong and still managed to be Tony's closest friend - maybe more than Rhodes. Tony was willing to do so much for Steve. He knew Steve could handle himself and didn't need his help but that was exactly the way Tony was: as he grew closer to his new friend, he couldn't let him out of his sight, couldn't let him fight his own battles alone.

The voice of Rogers suddenly resonated within the vast room, taking him back to the present.

"Tony, are you here?"

He and Shuya moved forward into the room. It used to be the common room, the one with the giant balcony on their right - that Shuya was currently ogling at with envy - where they would "assemble" after a mission. Now the room was almost devoid of any furniture - and memories. The Avengers Tower had been sold long ago yet it seemed that in these hours of despair, Tony had chosen to return to it.

Steve spotted the slim figure of that not-so-tall man, turning his back on them. Suddenly, the giant TV screen on the wall lighted up and showed a footage of an early Avengers mission, so many years ago. Through a amateur camera, Captain America was being seen falling through the air before Iron Man caught him. Then the man threw the Captain again, towards the plane they were trying to stop.

"Do you remember?" asked Tony, finally turning to face him.

Steve smiled tenderly at the remembrance.

"Yeah, Boston. A crazy Russian spy."

"We had actually worked on that technique."

Steve nodded, thinking back at all their sparring sessions and training together. All the techniques every Avenger invented with one another so they could be even more efficient and no matter who they were with. As Cap had trouble landing safely after a fall from the heaven, Tony had decided that he would always be the one to catch him, no matter the circumstances.

"We did and it worked."

Tony rubbed the back of his neck and kept staring at the screen. Steve drew his attention back to it and saw that it was now showing news (the sound was still muted though).

"They made fun of you, after that" Tony continued, pointing at the old footage. "Cap out of his time, shouldn't try to fit in this one, blah blah blah."

The blonde shrugged.

"So what? That's what the media does. I usually don't pay attention."

Tony stared at the man. Just as he had defended him after the Potomac's battle - because there were obviously some morons to keep believing that Captain America was responsible for the fall of SHIELD - he defended him against the media. Maybe more than he had done with agent Romanoff. He just couldn't bear the though of people laughing at Cap. Not at that man, not at that lonely, pure-of-heart man.

Tony cared so much about Steve and Steve... He just used him, didn't he?

The brunet shook his head sourly.

"Yeah, exactly. You didn't pay attention. You never pay attention, anyway."

Tony went down the few steps coming from the bar, towards the two fighters still standing in the entry way - Shuya had took off her suit so that Veronica was waiting for her at the first floor.

"You just do whatever it is that you want to do and then you say it was right because you decided it."

Steve stiffened and closed his fists.

"What do you mean? What is this all about Tony?" he asked, frowning.

Tony raised his hands like he was defending himself.

"Me? I don't mean anything. You came here."

Steve tilted his head in mild irritation but before he could replied, Tony continued:

"But since you're here, tell me: how's the life of the righteousest man on Earth going? Pretty well I assume? Do you pay attention to the world falling into chaos or-?"

"Enough!"

Without thinking, Steve had grabbed Tony's wrist - Tony always waved his hands when he was talking, in this delicate manner that Steve had grown to love watching because it was less about Tony showing off or being cocky than Tony being sensitive.

The brunet looked briefly at his grip, almost puzzled, before shaking it off and turning away on his heels.

"Tony!" Steve called him back, "Seriously, what game are you playing at? I came here to talk to you because I thought- God, Tony! Yes, I pay attention to the world! Everyday, I prevent the new regimes to either fall into HYDRA's hand or into another military tyranny. I try and I spend my days trying!"

Tony wasn't looking at him anymore. Of course he knew. Even after the Civil War happened, he always looked after his friend. Hell, he was the reason that Cap and the other rogue Avengers weren't that much pursued after their escape from the prison. Tony covered their tracks because he didn't want Steve to be alone again.

But he guessed that there would always be someone to follow him. To follow the living legend he helped stay both alive and a legend.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" he asked out of sudden, facing the teenage girl who was accompanying Captain America.

"I'm Shuya" said the girl. "I come from Wakanda." She blushed. "I'm sorry, Mr Stark, I've been using Veronica since the battle against Thanos. I wanted to ask you your permission but I, er, never could find you."

If she was using the Hulkbuster then... Tony buried his face in his hands. __Oh god, not Bruce, no.__ He had been hoping - for five years, he had desperately been hoping because once they lost the Hulk for two whole years - that Dr. Banner was still alive. But now he had confirmation that he wasn't. Another one to add to the list...

"Tony, listen."

Steve took a step in his direction, reaching out with his hand and Tony didn't move away. But the blonde didn't touch him, he just offered his open palm as both a gesture of peace and authority - he did that kind of gesture when he wanted people to follow exactly his lead. It was his Captain America gesture.

"I know you're still bitter about the Accords but I-"

And then, that was it. The gesture, the tone, the Accords that he couldn't care less about... Tony snapped.

"I thought you were coming back!" he shouted. "I waited and I- and I hoped! Because you said that whatever was up there, we'd fight it together. But I was alone! Alone with just the kid and-"

He bit his lips. What was the point? Why did he go through all this trouble? - trying to keep Steve's name clean no matter what, trying to protect him, to cover him. Hoping that Steve would realize how much he owed Tony and that he would finally come back to him. Come home.

But Tony ended up fighting Thanos alone.

"You know what? You're right. There is no point in that meeting."

He felt so tired. Five years that he was trying to hold it together, all alone with his pain, his grief - and his overwhelming guilt.

He retired to the balcony and was glad that Steve made no attempt to follow him - or argue with him.

His life started as a real mess. His friends were his trading partners or his father's old pals (not much better). His lovers didn't stay the same two nights in a row. His purpose in life was to have fun, maybe make his father proud in the after life. Basically, nothing's worth fighting for - and even more, nothing worth for someone else to fight for him either.

But after Afghanistan, everything changed. Pepper showed him that he could truly, deeply love. The Avengers became his friends, people he could rely on and people that were - most of the time - glad he was around. Steve especially, proved him how much he could care about others. Because Tony cared a lot.

He cared so much he actually ended up thinking his friends' happiness rested on his shoulders.

When Wanda's dreams hit them all hard, he helped Barton getting the Avengers to his farm. Steve didn't open to him about his dream but he knew enough to guess; he could also remember every word Ultron uttered to his friend. _"_ _ _The man who thinks he could live without a war."__ That was Steve's nightmare, the demons that were hunting him - the thought that it could be true, that he would never be able to let the war behind him. Thus Tony cared so much about Steve that he captured Steve's demons and put them along with his own. He tried to end the war - once and for all - for Steve - and nearly got them all killed in the process.

Tony hunted Steve's demons and it nearly destroyed the whole team.

However, he didn't realize it at that time - he didn't understand that it may not have destroyed the team but that it had destroyed Steve's faith in him. It was only when the Accords and its controversy happened that Tony saw that Steve didn't trust his hands to be safe anymore.

 _ _I cared too much I blinded myself.__

The brunet lifted his head towards the sky. Despite the snow, it was a clear deep blue sky. The stars could even been spotted. The snowflakes came down lightly from the cerulean ceiling like an illusion - like a whisper. Wherever they landed, they immediately melted. Tony caught one in his palm and watched it disappear slowly.

He could hear the arguing in the other room - apparently, that girl Shuya had one of a strong personality - and after a while, the sash door slid and Steve stepped out on the balcony. Tony didn't look at him, busy opening and closing his hand - and each time, he closed it on a snowflake and opened it to nothing.

"The first time you said you were going to catch me, I got a bit afraid, I admit it."

Steve came leaning on the railing, next to him, watching over the silent, sleeping city - they both knew the calm was only apparent though.

"I was aware of my weight - I'm not a 90 lbs guy anymore - and I couldn't figure how you could catch me and not have me bringing you down with me. Turned out you knew exactly what you were doing. As always."

Startled, Tony raised his eyes to meet his and saw that the blonde was gently smiling at him.

"I know it's been over seven years now but I want to say it... I'm sorry, Tony."

He put a firm hand on his shoulder and Tony could feel all that super-soldier warmth - pretty nice actually, as he was kind of freezing out there (he wouldn't admit it though. Especially to Steve.)

"I know what you were trying to do but I- I think I just got scared for Bucky, you know? I saw the governments ready to take him in and I... I admit, I panicked. I couldn't let anyone lock him up in a cage again. I mean, did you see how they treated him in Berlin? It was-"

"I know."

That was it; right here - that was the whole story. Even when Captain America was being selfish, even when he was putting civilians at risk, he still managed to do "the right thing": saving his victim of a long lost and brainwashed best friend. How did Tony ever hope he could argue against him?

Still, he tried to stop the two friends himself so that no one else would be involved, no one else would get hurt. And he stopped anyone to go chase after them when the fight was over. All of this at the risk of his own safety - his own credibility.

Damn Steve. How much did he let the man take advantage of him.

"I know, Steve, I saw it. You're right. You're always so damn right. Even since the beginning. My father wouldn't shut up about you and when I got to finally meet you I figured that he didn't lie. Captain America. So. Damn. Right."

He took a brief inspiration. It was almost as if he had been proud of Rogers; proud that the legend lived to it, proud to make everyone shut up about him, proud to be around Cap because it made him feel like he was becoming a better man. Proud because he helped Steve to fit in the 20th century so that people could get a glimpse of the man behind the mask - into that huge heart of his.

"Well" Tony continued, "the sad new is, I, on the other hand, am not. I'm nothing like you. Never was."

Maybe, he thought, if he made himself irreplaceable, Steve would stay forever at his side. Steve was so good while he was so not that he wanted Steve to feel like he needed Tony near him. To fit in that new word. To stop being lonely. To fight alongside friends.

Now, Tony could see it: it was all but a disillusion. Steve never needed him.

 _ _He__ needed Steve.

"Tony, please, don't be too hard on yourself, you-"

The brunet turned to face him, shaking his head with irritation.

"Stop your bullshit Rogers, you don't understand. I'm not like you. I couldn't resist. I let him convince me. And so I did it."

Steve's eyebrows furrowed.

"You did... what exactly?" he asked, starting to get suspicious - but Tony wasn't listening anymore, his words were flowing down freely out of his mouth.

"I did it because I didn't know better. Because you weren't there to tell me what was the right thing to do. And the kid- I wanted so badly to save Peter! I swear! I thought that I could control it. I knew they would all come back eventually, but I didn't realize... I didn't realize that it would actually feel so wrong. And that it would be so difficult for the rest of the world, too."

He stopped to catch his breath and looked. Steve had taken one step backward and was staring at Tony with the biggest frown on his face that Iron Man had ever seen. His voice was calm but cold as ice.

"What did you do." He asked.

The brunet sighed.

"I did the snapping. Everyone disappearing... that was me. I did it."

The eyes of the blonde widened in horror.

"What the-"

Then he fully understood and completely lost it.

"The fuck Tony! THE. FUCK. What did you even-?! How could you even! All these people- And it's been five years! FIVE FRICKING YEARS TONY!"

Steve kept yelling at him, pacing furiously the balcony, not even trying to finish his sentences - he was letting his frustration speak for him and anyway, it wasn't like there was anything relevant to say about that or nothing that Tony hadn't already told himself.

So, as always, Steve was right.

Seriously, why did Tony ever care about that righteous asshole?

Steve was still mad at him, blaming him for not telling him any of that and Tony felt tired again. He bent over the railing, burying his face in the hollow of his elbows, allowing the snow to be the only cool touch on his hands while his tears streamed down his face like a burning hell - where he was sure to go now.

Steve was blaming him for the lies but wasn't he the one that lied to him in the first place? Even after the fight at the airport, Tony still cared enough to fly directly to Alaska to help him deal with Zemo. And that's where he had to discover - he fucking __had__ to discover from their __enemy__ \- that not only did Bucky murder his parents but also that Steve knew all along. Steve knew all along! What more could Tony do? He had a heart but a single fucking one - and Steve already broke it when he refused Tony's help at the airport.

Tony was wrong, Steve was right - the perfect summary of their relationship.

The man wondered, though, how that must feel, standing so high above everyone else. Because that sure was-

"Stop it."

Before he could even realize it, Steve had his arms wrapped around him and he could feel his breath in his neck. He could feel his __tears__ in the back of his neck. Hear his voice directly in his ear.

"I love you Tony. So stop beating yourself up."

And Tony got too shocked to even keep crying - let alone to reply.

"I'm sorry I got mad, it slipped out of me. I'm truly sorry. I know what you've been through and I'm so glad you're even alive."

The embrace lightened and Tony finally managed to glance at Cap wiping the tears off his face. He still couldn't utter a word.

"You were the one who was right. I hid the truth from you. I ran away with Bucky and I put everyone at risk instead of trusting you."

The blonde took a deep breath.

"But I'm here, now. We're back together and we haven't lost yet - hell, even if we have to lose again, I'll make damn sure we'll still do it together this time. So, tell me, where's Thanos?"

Tony opened his mouth. And then shut it. He shook his head, trying to process everything that had just happened within the last three seconds. Too much, seriously, damn too much.

"He... He's gone too. He disappeared along everyone else."

Steve raised an eyebrow - out of surprise this time.

"Oh. Well, that's gonna make our task easier."

He started to walk towards the door to the common room not even realizing he had grabbed Tony by his elbow on the way. The genius frowned.

"Wait. What? You- You have a plan?"

Steve slid the door open and they discovered Shuya on the couch sipping whatever mixture she had made for herself - certainly nothing her age would have ever allowed but they were way beyond that now. Steve winced and instead chose to focus on Iron Man.

"Yes, of course. For like, three years now. But we needed you and er, I wasn't ready to face you yet."

Why did Tony cared so much about that damn righteous Captain America?

Probably because of that smile that appeared on his face when he looked back at the sky and the snow falling more densely now, that smile that made anyone believe in a better future and in a better version of themselves no matter what they may have done in the past.

"By the way, merry Christmas Tony."

Yep, definitively that smile.

"Merry Christmas, Cap."


End file.
